Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
Kieron Pollard has urged his West Indies side to forget their dismal batting display against England and move on quickly as they seek to defend their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup crown.
Kieron Pollard has urged his West Indies side to forget their dismal batting display against England and move on quickly as they seek to defend their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup crown.
Pollard was one of ten batters to fall for a single-figure score as his side were skittled for 55 in a rematch of the 2016 final, a score England needed just 8.2 overs to surpass as West Indies’ net run-rate took a sizable early dent.
The 34-year-old was honest about his side’s failings and expects to see a vast improvement in their remaining Group 1 fixtures, starting against South Africa on Tuesday.
“We didn’t bat well and it’s disappointing to start our tournament like that, being defending champions,” he said.
“But we have to accept it and take responsibility for what happened out there. We have to put this game to bed and move on.
“We just need to go back and look at the way we’ve performed and see if we can maybe find a medium as to how we approach it.
“It’s very important we forget a game like this. For us, it’s pretty simple – accept and move on.”
A West Indies side showing three survivors from the side which lifted the trophy for a second time five years ago were instantly up against it in Dubai, with both openers dismissed inside the first three overs.
Moeen Ali’s superb spell, which brought him two for 17 from four overs, kept the pressure on and there was no way back from 31 for four at the conclusion of the powerplay.
Pollard could at least take heart from a spirited display with the ball, Akeal Hosein taking two for 24, but admitted his side’s plans had been left in tatters following their performance with the bat.
“Obviously we lost a couple of wickets early on and we expected guys to bat a couple of overs, knock it around and see if we could set it up for the back end, but we kept losing wickets,” he said.
“It didn’t work today and these things happen. We have a plan of how we want to play, it didn’t come off today, but the intensity in the field for those 8.2 overs was good.
“Being bowled out for 50-odd as an international team is never acceptable but we’ll come back stronger.”
Adil Rashid was understandably more content with his afternoon’s work following a record-breaking spell with the ball.
The leg-spinner claimed four for two, England’s best ever T20I figures, to accelerate West Indies’ collapse but was quick to pay tribute to his fellow spinner and close friend Moeen for getting his side up and running.
“I don’t think we could have asked for a better start,” he said.
“As a bowling group, we bowled exceptionally well and everything went to plan.
“Moeen started off brilliantly, especially bowling four overs in a row. He kept it tight and picked up wickets as well. That really set the tone for the team.
“A lot of credit goes to him and the whole bowling unit for backing each other up.
“As a bowling unit, we know we have five or six matchwinners and on any given day anyone can come on and get wickets.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead and we’ll take it a game at a time. Whatever’s in front of us, we’ll play that.”
Name of Author: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body for cricket, founded in 1909 as the Imperial Cricket Conference. Renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, it became the ICC in 1987. Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, the ICC has 108 member nations.
